Dr. Bee Yun, a current Fellow at the IKGF, speaks about medieval murals in the vaulted Great Chamber of the Longthorpe Tower in Peterborough, England. These murals are parts of a fresco cycle of the fourteenth century. Dr. Bee Yun researched the murals in the course of his research on the medieval symbolism of fortune and fate and endeavored to decipher the images. He summarizes his results with the aid of some images of these murals.

IKGF Video Documentaries (HD 1280)

The Mural of Longthorpe Tower 2016/2017

Dr. Stephan N. Kory, a current Visiting Fellow, explains the different components of a feng shui compass and their function. It is the primary tool used in the Chinese mantic art of fengshui, geomancy, or topomancy The Chinese luópán is a self-registering orientor, a mirror of space and time, and a dynamic model of a locative cosmography. The 18 rings of Master Lin Mingdes luópán are used to measure the conditions of a site. The measurements are then interpreted to prognosticate the auspiciousness and inauspiciousness of a site, particularly as it pertains to persons associated with it. The underlying concept is that the fate or the mandated life trajectory of a person is fixed according to contingencies, like the position of an ancestors grave or the layout of a house or business.

Master Lin’s Luópán 2016/2017

At the IKGF a conference with and about Nobel laureate in literature Gao Xingjian took place from 24-27 October 2011. By documenting Gao´s visit of several days and through Michael Lackner’s interview with him, Gao’s artistic transposition and personal attitude towards fate and freedom are revealed. Gao’s writing, painting, and cinematic art reflect his inner and outer journey into exile – an exile that is fated. During the conference, several parts of the opus of the laureate were exhibited. The Museum Tucherschloss in Nuremberg presented in a special exhibition the artist’s ink on rice paper paintings, the E-Werk in Erlangen showed his films (“La silhouette sinon l’ombre”, “Après le déluge” and “Snow in August“), and the City Library in Nuremberg gave a reading on his novel “Soul Mountain”. Academics, translators and artists, such as Mabel Lee, Wang Liying, Kwok-kan Tam, Renate Reifenscheid, and John McDonald, describe their impressions of Gao´s opus. At the IKGF a conference with and about Nobel laureate in literature Gao Xingjian took place from 24-27 October 2011.

Gao Xingjian - A Documentary (2012) 2016/2017

During the research stay of former IKGF visiting fellow, Prof. Dr. Donatella Rossi (Sapienza Univ. of Rome), who worked on the ancient Tibetan Zhang Zhung Ju thig divination system, Tibetan Bon-master Lopon Trinley Nyima Rinpoche was invited to a two-week research visit at the IKGF. Since 1992, Venerable Trinley Nyima Rinpoche has been the appointed Lopon (Head Teacher) of the Bon Dialectic School in Dolanji, India, which is the Bon religion’s major institution of higher education in exile. During his stay, a video featuring an interview on Zhang Zhung Ju thig and other Tibetan divination methods, as well as an actual divination carried out by him, was produced.

Practice of Divination: The Tibetan Zhang Zhung Ju thig Divination System 2016/2017

The “Book of Changes” plays a leading role in the development of prognostication in China. As a specialist on I Ching research, Visiting Fellow Wenzhi Zhang (Center for Zhouyi and Ancient Chinese Philosophy, Shandong Unviersity, IKGF Cooperation Partner) explains in a dialogue with Xiaokun Song (IKGF) with the help of a concrete example – a question on the Consortium’s future of the IKGF – how the book was and remains used in Asian culture and how it is possible to draw conclusions from milfoil divination.

Practice of Divination: The Book of Changes (2013) 2016/2017

At the IKGF, Agostino Paravicini Bagliani has worked on the possibilities and methods of life prolongation at the papal court. In his interview with Klaus Herbers, he illustrates the functions and aims of his home institution, SISMEL, in Florence, and elucidates the transformation of humanities to deal with topics like alchemy, divination and astrology. Naturally, the then upcoming conference on divination and practical sciences in Arabic sources (January 2014) in cooperation with International Union of Academies is envisioned.

"Prolongatio Vitae": A Link between Sciences and Humanities 2016/2017

An Interview by Nikola Chardonnens with Prof. Natascha Gentz Chinas encounter with the Western World, the reception of European Modernity and Chinese conceptual history among others, these are the topics addressed in the research of the director of the Asian Studies Department of the University of Edinburgh, Natascha Gentz. In conversation with Nikola Chardonnens, she emphasizes the unique atmosphere at the Consortium, oscillating between topicality and interdisciplinarity - a combination that inspired her research greatly.

Fate, Freedom and Free Will: Discourses on Chinese Tragedy 2016/2017

In this short film, Lionel Jensen reports on his early academic career, his research focus on the “intellectual history of China” and his time as a Visiting Fellow at the IKGF in 2011. In his research on the oeuvre and heritage of the Confucian scholar Zhu Xi (1130-1200) – one of the most popular Chinese philosophers besides Confucius - he investigates how intellectuals were involved in divination and mythology. Through this relecture, the classification of a “Chinese intellectual” acquires fresh dimensions beyond those classically ascribed to philosophers and intellectuals.

Philosophers and "Mythistories" (2012) 2016/2017

Prof. Lackner, director of the IKGF, envisions in this interview research trajectories of the IKGF. He elaborates on the Chinese reception of Western academia in the 19th and 20th centuries on the one hand, and on the other the significance and role of prognostic techniques in the history of Europe, the USA and China.

Encompassing Continents and Epochs - Research Trajectories of the IKGF (2012) 2016/2017

In the discussion led by Lothar von Falkenhausen, three eminent scholars of Early Chinese history meet. Three fields of specialty are involved: early material culture and archaeology (von Falkenhausen), early Chinese philology and oracle bone inscriptions (Kenichi Takashima) and early intellectual history (Michael Puett). Together, the three scholars debate on the Shang and Zhou dynasties: while Ken Takashima focuses on divinatory texts of the 13-11 centuries B.C. and their diction, Michael Puett considers the Western terms of “Fate, Freedom and Prognostication” in the context of Early China. In cooperation with both, Lothar von Falkenhausen attempts better to understand and classify the divinatory material objects of early Chinese archeology. In the discussion led by Lothar von Falkenhausen, three eminent scholars of Early Chinese history meet.

Three Disciplines at One Table (2012) 2016/2017

The participants in the workshop discussed inter alia the correlation between politics and prophecies, notational diminutives of prognostications and the Pseudo-Methodius. Klaus Herbers reviews the day and the results of the discussion panel in conversation with Hannes Möhring.

Political Prophecies in the Middle Ages 2016/2017

In his research on Millennialism, Richard Landes distinguishes between active and passive sabbatical millennialism in Christian traditions. With Erik Niblaeus, he further discusses the competitive late antique and early medieval concepts of this tradition. As an example of active, bottom-up Millennialism, the historian explains the Peace-of-God movement.

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IKGF Video Documentaries (HD 1280)

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